Portret van Thomas More, humanist en staatsman

Lucas Horenbout's Portret van Thomas More, humanist en staatsman, associated with the Icones Leidenses collection and dated around 1527, depicts Sir Thomas More, the English statesman, humanist, and later Catholic martyr who was executed in 1535 for refusing to acknowledge Henry VIII's supremacy over the Church. More was one of the towering intellects of the Northern Renaissance, friend of Erasmus and author of Utopia, and his portrait was among the most sought-after by humanist collectors. Horenbout, a Flemish miniaturist who served as a court painter to Henry VIII, was well-placed to produce authoritative images of English court figures. The Icones Leidenses series preserved portraits of notable humanists for scholarly memory.

The portrait presents More in his formal official costume — the velvet-collared robe and chain of office he wore as Lord Chancellor — with the sober directness characteristic of humanist portraiture. The surface treatment is precise in the Flemish miniaturist tradition. The face is carefully individualized.